Rating: Summary: Kind of boring Review: I read this book from cover to cover on a two day road trip and there were times that talkin to my mother was more interesting. Like all Stephen King books, there is some great imagery in there. But it just doesn't have the edge that his really great books do. Stephen King has proven that he has the ability to write a gripping story even though there is very little character interaction or scenery change (see Gerald's Game) but it just didn't happen in this book.
Rating: Summary: Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the woods Review: After reading Jaws, my carefree days at the beach were ruined forever. Likewise, after listening to The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, my camping gear was sold at the next yard sale. While I can laugh off vampires and resurrected pets, getting lost in the woods could happen to anyone. Trisha's indefatigable courage was awe inspiring. I don't think I would last nine hours alone in the forest, much less nine days. Anne Heche's child-like voice as nine year old Trisha is perfect and the story is wonderful. Please, Mr. King, give us more books like this. (This refers to the unabridged audio-book version)
Rating: Summary: Strong Follow-up to Bag of Bones Review: There are a great number of ways people read. Some love short anthology books, other are more keen to go through novels and eat them whole. Still some readers are more of on a genre basis, reading just horror, romance or what have you.I love reading. Perhaps one of the great past times that I never tire of is just sitting down and going for a really good read. To move from places you can only imagine and try to be in. To actually live in the setting the author draws on with his words. When it comes to reading I would go forth by reading a novel or two after each other and them taking a break by reading some short story anthology. Kind of a way top draw a breather. My last Stephen King book was Bag of Bones and that story grabbed by the neck and kept me completely enthralled by every aspect of it. The whole thing. I stood and wondered how a man like King could actually scribe such a masterpiece. He was more cast as a stereotypical horror writer, but what Bag of Bones had was something that not authors can emulate or draw from. That work was so much different from all his previous work that a person could have been fooled that the author was not really King himself. That book was big and long and after reading it, I thought that I needed time off from big novels and, though he's my fave author, from King himself. Through it all, I was thinking, ok, Stephen, you did it once, but can you really do it again?? It was only after more than a year from my last King book that I finally knew the answer. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is a short book by all standards. A fast reader could gulp it up in one setting and an average one could go with it for around a week. The book follows the same trend as Bag of Bones, with King relying more on his literary prowess more than his ability to scare powers. But does that mean, he doesn't have that in him. Oh no no! He just has it more in check and it's really in it. The whole idea of a girl being lost in the woods for God knows how long alone, and the reader experiencing what she has to go through is a feat all by itself. The notion of having a nine year old, alone, scared s just too incredulous to really fathom. Only King could have tackled such a thing and he does it superlatively. King's descriptive abilities are so strong that you will feel that you're with Trisha, wherever she goes, feeling whatever she does and seeing what she is seeing. Her dreams become reality and even her delirious hallucinations make the fear crawl inside you. This book is a winner. I won't go into what I think King was going for in the story, but I guarantee that you will be touched by it. By the determination of that plucky 9 year old girl who looks older than her age.
Rating: Summary: WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?? Review: From time to time, King write something that the line between horror and a "normal" book is very thin. This is one of then, not a horror story (but there is a evil entity), is more like him, telling us how some parents are so self-centerd that they won't notice until way too late that their children are missing or anything like that. No gore, no scares, only the suspense of whether the girl lifes or dies (which i won't tell, so you go read it). Not a bad book, yet not one of his best work. What it lacks in horror made up in impressive descriptions and suspense. Buy it so you can have the King collection.
Rating: Summary: Not the typical Stephen King novel. Review: This book is far different from other SK novels, first of all this has to be the shortest book from Stephen King I've ever read. Second, unlike "Insomnia" and "Desperation" this book lacks a strong supernatural tone. But, over all, this book was a nice read and might just get some new Stephen King readers, while keeping the returning victims of his books interested.
Rating: Summary: Magnificent Review: Stephen King has been under fire of late by some of his so-called fans for daring to move away from his traditional style of writing and exploring new themes. Books like "Hearts in Atlantis" and this novel have received scathing reviews from "veteran" King readers, but I implore anyone who has not yet read one to do so before making up their mind. "The Girl Who..." is a beautifully written, rite-of-passage novel detailing the exploits of 9 year old Trisha McFarland when she finds herself lost in the woods of Maine. Trisha's odyssey begins when her divorcee mother takes Trisha and her brother for a hike through the woods. However, mother and son's constant bickering soon becomes too much for her, and she momentarily steps off the trail to relieve both her bladder and her aching head. Big mistake. She soon finds herself lost and blundering deeper and deeper into the woods, stalked by something that may be the object of her imagination, or may not... King so accurately describes the thoughts, fears and emotions of a 9 year old girl that one has to wonder if perhaps he might have been one in a former life. There are times during the book when you think that if one more misfortune befalls Trisha, you might just give up and die yourself. We feel her pain just as keenly as trisha herself. There are people who have reviewed this book and complained about the baseball references. However, they obviously do not see them for what they are; the means by which Trisha keeps herself sane. Her precious walkman and the Sox games are her only link to the civilised world while she stumbles through the wilderness. Please do not let the prospect of baseball references turn you away from reading this book. They are few and far between, and easily understood, even if you've never seen or played baseball in your life.
Rating: Summary: Teen's book!! Review: "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" by Stephen King,is a great book and exspecially great for teenagers. It is an inspiring, exciting, and adventurous book. It is about a girl who gets lost in the woods and is trying to find her way home. She is frightened and the thing that is following her is making it even worse. She doesn't know what the thing is and neither will you if you don't read the book. She is only surviving on her love for Tom Gordon. This is an excellent book and I'm rating it a five star book.
Rating: Summary: Good ol yarn. If you've ever been lost in the woods... Review: ..then you know the kinds of things that can play tricks on your mind. Imagine you are a scared little girl, with only a bag lunch to eat, and no clue on how to get out. Thats the mind set you have to be in to begin to read this book. Many will tell you that this book is about spirituality, or finding yourself, or whatever. But this basically comes down to the mind games you play when you are in total solitude, and the with the absense of normal 20th century comforts, how vulunerable you indeed are. This book does show however, that despite that you may be mad at your loved ones, or feel like you hate the position you are in, it is still best to be amongst the ones you love, and in your current position, because that is better than the alternative, which is solitude and lonliness. Read this book, its a quick read, easy to understand, and it might make you appreciate your comforts, and even like the little annoyances that normally would drive you nuts.
Rating: Summary: WELL TOLD SCARY TALE Review: Besides King's two novella's, "Shawshank Redemption," and "Stand By Me," this was my first foray into Mr. King's frightening world. I purchased it because I knew it to be less horrifying than most. As a general rule I don't "do horror." However, I always wanted to read his work, his descriptions, his genre. Once. I discovered ONCE is quite enough for me. Though incredibly impressed by his expertise as an excellent story teller, this was as creepy as I could stand. I knew I was in for it when I read, "A stump of a branch thick as an amuputated forearm......" I would not envision that analogy.....Stephen King would. I am glad I read this. His vile descriptions and eerie story made me wince and shake.....what good horror is supposed to do. I now leave him to all those who love the macabre. The quality of his writing is supreme. Good writing.....wrong subjects! Stephen King belongs to his legions of ghastly, ghoulish fans. King is the king of the macabre......I am the queen of the scarity cats and "never the twain shall meet" again!
Rating: Summary: Decent at best Review: I am not an avid Stephen King reader, so I am not very familiar with his writing style. But, I am however extremely familiar with his movies and I would have to say that if this were made into a movie, it would be pretty juvenile. Most adults wouldn't sit through a two hour or hour and a half film about a child lost in the woods. But, that doesn't mean no one would. This novel/ short story was a nice read. It was slightly suspenseful in a mediocre sort of way. The ending was kind of happy if you like that sort of thing. But, I did thoroughly enjoy all of the characters. Especially Trisha's friend Pepsi (one of those people who like to call people by their last names) and little Trisha's father who calls God the "Subaudible", he was the true definition of a character. All in all, it was a fairly good read, just not your typical Stephen King.
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